Mystery Solved

A few days ago I went out to the deck to pick 3 ripe tomatoes.  When I got out there, all 3 had been chewed on.  Even a couple of the green ones had been eaten.  I figured it must be a squirrel.  There's one that always gets into our bird feeder.  I also considered the possibility that my next-door neighbor had made a late-night visit to my deck to try my tomatoes.  She had threatened to steal them when she learned we were growing some.  (She loves home-grown tomatoes!)

Last night I went out to check on them again.  This time, not only were the tomatoes all half-eaten, most of the leaves were gone too.  And this huge, yet beautiful, bug was happily munching on one of the green tomatoes.  Isn't he incredible!  He was at least 3 inches long.  As I was admiring him, I saw another one as big as this one.  And another one!  In all, there were 5 huge ones and a baby one. (The first picture is the baby one)

A quick search on the internet revealed that this is a problematic agricultural pest called the tomato horn worm.  They are the larvae of a huge moth called the hummingbird moth (because it is as big as a hummingbird).

My 3 boys wanted to put them in a terrarium and let them transform in their rooms.  I vetoed the idea based on the fact that 1. they probably wouldn't survive (they over-winter in the soil and I didn't think we could recreate the soil and temperature requirements, and 2. I didn't think it would be responsible to release the moths if they did emerge since this is an incredibly damaging insect to tomato crops.

So I got rid of them.  I was labeled a murderer (even though I couldn't bring myself to kill them - they are too big and squishy - I put them in a plastic bag in the trash).  And I'm happy to report that my tomato plant has a bunch of tiny new leaves on the mostly bare stems and even one baby tomato.